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Eliezer "Eli" Sotto papers

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.MSS892f

Scope and Content

This collection contains items from Eli Sotto's barber shop, The Trim Shop. Materials include an Atlanta Craftsman Interiors' order form filled out by Lucy Sotto for repair on a barbershop chair; a cardboard advertisement for Belmont barber chairs and an advertisement for Williams Tonsorial Shaving Soap; and business cards for Eli's Barber Shop, The Trim Shop, and Atlanta Craftsman Interiors. The collection also includes the final examination for barbering.

Dates

  • 1992, undated

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted through the Kenan Research Center.

Administrative/Biographical History

Eliezer "Eli" Sotto (1923-2017) was born in Salonika, Greece, to David and Victoria Sotto. He had two brothers, Charlie and Isaac; and four sisters, Gracia, Bella, Rachel, and Sarah. In 1941, Germany invaded Greece during World War II, and in 1943 Sotto and his family were taken to Auschwitz. Sotto and his younger brother Isaac escaped from a train on its way to an execution field and found refuge in a Catholic hospital in Prague until the end of the war. They were the only members of the family to survive the war and returned to Salonika after Greece's liberation from the Germans. Sotto married another Holocaust survivor, Lucy Levy Sotto (1924-1995), in 1946 and they had three children; Rachel Levi (1947- ), Victoria Sotto Flink (1953- ), and David Sotto (1960- ); three grandchildren, David Flink, Denise Morrison, and Maurice Happy Levi; and three great-granchildren, Emma Flink, Danielle Levi, and Sarah Morrison. Sotto and his family immigrated to the United States in 1952 and settled in Atlanta a year later. Sotto worked as a barber in downtown Atlanta. He opened his own barbershop in 1957 called The Trim Shop in Midtown. His clientele included former mayors Ivan Allen and Maynard Jackson, former governor Roy Barnes, and television host Bert Parks. Sotto retired at age 90 in 2014 and donated the shop's contents to the William Breman Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum and the Atlanta History Center. In 2010 Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall declared April 27 Eli Sotto Day in honor of his contribution to Midtown.

Extent

1 folder(s)

Language

English

System of Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically according to titles supplied by staff.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, 2014

Related Archival Materials

Recordings of interviews of Eli Sotto are uncataloged. Please contact an archivist for access to these material.

Description Control

This collection was processed in 2019.

Title
Eliezer "Eli" Sotto papers
Author
Emma Jones
Date
June 2019
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository

Contact:
130 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta GA 30305
404-814-4040